Tatau Dance Group to light up China

TATAU: Albert Tupuola (left) with members of the Tatau Dance Group.[Samoa Observer]

A group for soga’imiti from Samoa is set to light up the New Zealand Music Festival in Shanghai this month.

The Tatau Dance Group, led by Albert Tupuola, is among the performers from the Pacific performing at the festival over a period of four weeks.

“The festival was created last year to promote the New Zealand culture and as a platform to introduce New Zealand to Shanghai,” said Kirsten Mason, the director of the festival.

“We have a fabulous lineup this year - these performers represent the best of innovative, contemporary New Zealand music, and I’m thrilled to bring them to Shanghai to showcase their talents before local audiences.

“All the performers are different from each other and show different aspects of New Zealand’s culture,” Mason added.

One of the highlights of this year’s festival will be the Tatau Dance Group performing the show Pasifika!

Formed in Auckland in 2009, the Tatau Dance Group is a group of Samoan dancers who all have the traditional Samoan pe’a or tattoo.

Receiving the pe’a is a right of passage for Samoans. This will be the first time for the group to perform in China.

Pasifika! is 90 minutes of nonstop, energetic dance, music and drumming.